With February now gone, click this link for the stats for the month.
A quick review of last month shows the range and volumes have contracted compared to January. E.G. Average Jan Globex range and volume 51.25 points & 2.52m contracts vs 36.75 points & 2.15m contracts for Feb - a drop of 28 and 15% respectively as the Vix fell back from around 30 to 20.
SPDR performance for February below:
1 month Performance
Despite the surge in commodities last month, the year to date picture below shows clear outperformance by the defensive consumer staples and utilities sectors, which is usually seen as a leading indicator of a contraction/recession in the business cycle.
Here are the past 3 months time and volume profiles. February made a new low for the year which has failed to be hit during regular trading hours. The value area marginally overlapped higher to January and the time and volume POC shifted higher just over 30 points.
A look at the monthly bar chart below shows the long term range the market is currently trading within. The next major low is from October '14 at 1774.25 (back-adjusted). This is the longest the market has traded below it's 20 month SMA since 2009.